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At least five people have been killed and thousands of homes damaged by still-rising floodwaters in Louisiana. (Published Monday, Aug. 15, 2016)

Torrential rains eased Monday in flood-ravaged Louisiana, but forecasters that warned the threat was far from over.

Louisiana has been deluged by rainfall since last week, with at least seven people dead and thousands of homes damaged by floods. Gov. John Bel Edwards said officials "won't know the death toll for sure for several more days."

One of the dead was an elderly woman in the town of Hinesville, whom authorities hailed as a hero for saving the toddler who was in the car she was driving, NBC News reported.

The woman who has not been identified managed to get them to a tree. By the time two passersby heard the boy's cries, the woman had drowned, but the boy was clinging to the tree and was rescued, sheriff's officials said.

More than 20,000 other people have been rescued from the floodwaters, and more than 12,000 remained in shelters, Edwards said.